How I met the Hubs…

I decided it was time to re-join the blogging world. I used to blog regularly back in high school, but somewhere along the way I gave it up. So today it begins again… Today, September 8th, marks 6 months since Mike & I said our “I do’s”. I’m always reminded of that day every 8th of the month. I can’t help but think back on the incredible way the Lord weaved our lives together. So today, for my first post, I’m going to share the story of how Mike & I met. Sorry to those of you who’ve heard it a million times… i just LOVE to tell it!!

It was really early on December 26, 2006- the morning after Christmas. I was headed to Guadalajara, Mexico for a family mission’s trip with my Church, and Mike was heading to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to go surfing with his friend Danny.

Now, I have to give some background real quick in order for you to get the big picture of how God’s hand was truly in our relationship, even from our very first meeting. Mike and Danny were originally supposed to fly out of Fort Lauderdale; however, a few weeks before the trip, the airline contacted them and told them their flight was cancelled. There was no reason- it just vanished. They tried everything they could to re-book their flight out of Fort Lauderdale, but there was nothing. They tried to book it out of West Palm, and even Orlando (where they would be visiting family before the trip). They were extremely frustrated when the airline informed them they would only honor their tickets if they flew out of Miami (which was a long drive for them at an early hour & it didn’t excite them at all). Little did they know that God planned it out like this for a reason.

Back to where I left off: I boarded the plane that was headed to Mexico City (where my group would catch our connecting flight into Guadalajara). I looked at my ticket and headed to the back of the plane and found my seat. I was seated in the middle seat with my mom to the right of me in the window seat, and a little Mexican lady seated to my left in the aisle seat. Before the flight took off, the Mexican lady moved up toward the front of the plane to some empty rows (Probably to escape the noise of our large excited Church group). Naturally, after she left, I spread out and moved over a seat to give my mom and I some space. I quickly glanced over to my left and noticed a rather attractive guy sitting right next to me, across the aisle— It was Mike. Shortly after take-off, I pulled out some Christian literature to read and Mike noticed me do this and pulled out some of his own (he told me months later that he did that on purpose). I took it as the perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation, so I pulled the good old “Where are ya’ll heading?” line out. We started talking small talk and told each other about our Church’s and where we were from. I had gone to school for 2 years at UCF in Orlando which is where he grew up. So we had a lot in common to talk about.

Mike started to tell me how he’s been in South Florida for about 3 years and probably would have left a long time ago if it wasn’t for a Bible study he was involved in. The Bible study he was and is still in, is a guys Bible study. He told me how he loves having the accountability and mentorship and how he’s grown so much spiritually through it. I asked him if it was a study out of his Church and he said, “No, it’s actually out of this guy’s house in West Palm.” I had a funny feeling and asked him who the guy was. He said, “Bruce Hodge.” And pretty much myself and the whole plane (since a large portion of the group was my family) turned around shocked saying, “BRUCE HODGE?!” Turns out that Bruce is a guy I have known since I was 13. He is a close family friend and someone I call on father’s day to wish him a “Happy Father’s Day” because he’s been “father-figure” in my life. After some more talking and putting two-and-two together, we realized that we had both heard about each other yet had never met. In fact, Mike remembers praying (in Bible study) for me and my family when we were going through some really tough stuff. We ended up talking the entire 3 hour flight and of course called Bruce right away when we landed in Mexico City to tell him the story!

After running into Mike and Danny in various places in the Mexico City airport, we said our good-byes and headed our separate ways to catch our other flights. 5 days later, my church group flew back into Mexico City to catch our connecting flight into Miami. As I was sitting at the gate Mike walked up to me. Turns out they had the same returning flight as us! We caught up briefly at the gate telling stories about our weeks. We boarded the plane and once the flight took and the fasten seat-belt light went off, Mike nodded his head for me to come up from the back of the plane and sit in the empty seat next to him. Of course I did. We talked another 3 hours and parted ways at the airport- no phone numbers exchanged.

I immediately called Bruce and asked him all about Mike. He told me what a solid guy he was etc… and then I told Bruce he should have a dinner party at his house and have all of us over. He planned it all out for that Thursday and invited the guys. In the mean time, I had added Mike on Myspace and we started messaging back and forth until we met up at Bruce’s later that week. He got my phone number and it turned out that we were both going to Orlando the next day. We decided to meet up and he took me out on what we consider our first “date” on January 6th. We were pretty much together all the time from that day on…

Phewf! That took a lot longer to spit out than i thought I just love telling it though! I gives me chills thinking about how the Lord brought us together. I love my husband so much, and marriage has seriously been the greatest blessing I have ever experienced! I couldn’t imagine sharing my life with anyone else. I can’t wait to celebrate being married a year, then 10 years, then 25 years, and then 50 years… etc… with my best friend!

23 Responses to “How I met the Hubs…”

Hey T Welcome to the Blog world and to photography!! It’s so very fun. We really should team up and do a photo shoot, huh? What kind of pictures do you take?Love ya girl…and thanks for linking me..you’re so sweet!!

What a great story, I just found your site through one of your recipes on tastespotting & couldn’t help but read your about section. Hope you & hubby are still as happy today as the day you got married, I have no doubt

Thank you so much for sharing this…even though I’m a little late reading it, I have to tell you how encouraging it is for someone who’s heart has been broken to see a real-life example of God’s amazing providence…thanks for helping me keep the faith, Tina! Love from Texas!

Hi Tina! I love reading your blog and I follow you on Twitter. Today you posted a picture of your “brunch date” hehe and I noticed he was wearing a Westminster Academy T-shirt!! Not to sound creepy haha but then I read this story and noticed Ft. Lauderdale. That is where I went to high school! Small world hehe I look forward to making your recipes!

I started following your blog awhile ago after noticing some photos on Pinterest, and you quickly became one of my favorite food bloggers because your recipes are so great But I didn’t know you were also Christian! Your story is so beautiful and encouraging. I love hearing how God brought you two together. I feel the same way with my husband.
God bless you too, and thank you again for your wonderful website!

awww I love this!! Even more because I just met my boyfriend in a similarly serendipitous way – we were both in Ireland and he stopped me on the streets! Turns out we went to the same college and live in the same state:)

Beautiful story! And, I absolutely love how God is at the center of it. Obviously His blessings continue for you and your “Hubs” with the impending birth of your first child. Congrats! And, I love your blog.